Mobile banking has increased substantially in recent years, according to the Federal Reserve Board, with more than half of smartphone users—and one-third of all mobile phone owners—using mobile banking in 2013.
The shift to digital is significantly impacting banking culture. U.S. banks, citing the growth of online banking, shuttered a record number of brick-and-mortar branches last year, nearly 1,600 nationwide, according to SNL Financial. A report by Aite Group analyst David Albertazzi projects thousands more banking offices will close by 2019.
Consider Bank of America, which closed 171 branches last year and now has just over 5,100 locations, down from 6,000 five years ago. But its mobile “active” bank accounts surged by 15% last year to 16.5 million.
Even so, Capital Region bankers tell Business Report the projected demise of traditional banking is greatly exaggerated.
As a feature from the current issue points out, a new report from the FDIC seems to bear that out: Between 1970 and 2014 the total number of banking offices grew nearly twice as fast as the U.S. population, and as of 2014 the density of banking offices per capita was higher than it had been at any point prior to 1977. Louisiana is one of 37 states that have experienced a net gain of bank offices since 1987.
“A few years ago, everyone thought branches would be dinosaurs,” says Danny Montelaro, south Louisiana area president for Regions Bank. “They said the same thing with telephone banking. Yet, more than 60% of our consumer banking customers and more than 85% of our business customers visit a branch at least once a month.”
Read the full feature. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
